No thanks. Not now. We’re not interested.
Every business development representative has heard those words more than they’d like to count. That’s because objection handling is a natural part of the medtech or B2B sales process.
What’s important is how your sales team handles objections and negative responses. Persuasive and thoughtful objection handling can separate strong lead generation teams from the rest.
Prepare for objections around price, product fit or process
A sales objection occurs when a prospect expresses concern about some aspect of your solution.
In B2B and medtech sales, common objections involve:
- Price
- Product or service fit
- Competition
- Process
There may also be personal objections that individuals use to back out of the sales process, like citing a busy schedule or lack of authority. These are easier to counter by making sure you are speaking with the right decision-makers or influencers to the final sale.
Successful sales and business development reps learn quickly not to take objections personally. They realize that when buyer objections occur, it’s not time to give up—it’s time to dig in, understand the true issue behind the objection, and see if there’s a way forward that’s mutually beneficial. Sometimes countering sales objections even motivates medtech and B2B sales reps.
Overcome sales objections with empathy and trust
To overcome more sales objections, start by building good rapport with the potential customer. This is one of the situations where outbound calling can shine, compared to digital marketing techniques. When done well, there’s nothing as powerful as the impact of a one-on-one conversation.
That means listening actively and demonstrating empathy. Often, especially early in a relationship, we’re hesitant to trust the other person. Bridging that gap during a sales call helps your prospect overcome their inherent skepticism and receive your messages more authentically.
With objection handling, demonstrating empathy can be as simple as reflecting back your prospect’s concerns with responses like:
- “I hear you saying our pricing structure may not fit your budget.”
- “You’re concerned about the time and effort required to integrate our technology with your core system.”
This method validates your prospect’s objection as a legitimate concern. It shows you understand and want to help.
Avoid at all costs taking a heavy-handed approach to objection handling. When a potential B2B or medtech buyer expresses concern, don’t react aggressively, talk down to the prospect or steamroller their concerns. Those old-school techniques can damage your brand’s reputation in the market. They typically do little to move deals forward.
Instead, maintain a tone of respect and professionalism at all times. The more rapport you can build, the better your objection handling efforts will be.
Reframe the objection and respond with specifics
Next, look at the objection as a way to reframe the issue so your target audience realizes the potential value of your solution. Think of your role as a guide. You’re helping the prospect think about their situation or business challenge differently, which will alleviate the concern raised in their objection.
A great way to do this is by asking follow-up questions. Often there are multiple factors behind the objection. For example, a price objection may not be as straightforward as a high price tag; it could be a concern about moving from a one-time capital expense to a service or subscription model. A product fit question may be less about your tool’s features and more about the internal changes required to implement it.
The more your can dig and discover, the more knowledge you will gain to formulate the best possible response to overcome the objection.
When you do respond, make sure to offer tangible support points. Often, these come in the form of a case study or story:
- “Other customers in your industry have realized 15:1 ROI within nine months of adopting our tool.”
- “We undertake a thorough audit, which reduces implementation time by an average of 90 days.”
Using data and stories help bring an objective, outside lens to your sales process that deepens your credibility, strengthens your response and helps move the sale forward.
Anticipate these common sales objections
The best guidance for business development reps and inside sales teams is simply to anticipate objections and prepare for them in advance. The more you can role play internally and get comfortable with pushback, the more effective you’ll be at objection handling during actual B2B and medtech engagements.
In our outbound calling at Volkart May, we make nearly one million calls each year to B2B and healthcare decision-makers. We represent leading brands, from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups, and bring 30 years’ of lead generation experience to our work.
It all adds up to hearing a lot of sales objections!
In our lead generation and inside sales calling, we prepare in advance for common objections like these:
- We already have a solution in place.
- We handle it internally.
- We don’t have budget right now.
- It’s too difficult to make a switch.
- I don’t have a need for your solution.
We also plan for conversations with gatekeepers, assistants and receptionists, to help us navigate to the right decision-makers within the organization:
- How did you get our contact information?
- Why are you calling?
- [Name] no longer works here.
The actual responses will vary depending on the medtech or B2B brand we’re representing and the purpose of the call. What’s important is identifying potential objections and outbound call obstacles upfront.
With this approach, the business development team can operate confidently and make the best possible use of their time during sales conversations.
Sometimes it is time to break up
It’s good to realize that some deals just aren’t yours to win. The more you know your target audience and have good lead scoring or prospecting profiling in place, the smarter you become about which conversations have merit.
The same applies to objection handling. Some objections mean it is the right time to “break up” with the prospect or lead because they’re not a strong fit for your product or service. In those instances, it’s better to end cordially (and early) in the sales cycle so you don’t apply time and effort to an opportunity that’s unlikely to close.
Advance more opportunities in your sales process. Volkart May’s professional medtech and B2B callers are experts at lead generation, lead nurturing and finding sales-ready deals. Contact us to listen to actual calls and hear our objection handling in action.
